What you may not know about Josh Oglesby's game

Iowa’s Mike Gesell, left, and Josh Oglesby smile as they walk off the court following the Hawkeyes’ 90-56 win over Hampton on Nov. 14. Both players are shooting 26 percent for the season but are contributing in other ways.(Photo: David Scrivner/Iowa City Press-Citizen)Buy Photo

IOWA CITY, Ia. -- Josh Oglesby understands that he has critics. He's a shooting guard who is making 26 percent of his shots.

But there are more reasons than offensive potential that Iowa coach Fran McCaffery will put the senior on the floor for extended stretches during Wednesday's 6:30 p.m. game at 12th-ranked North Carolina.

"He doesn't turn the ball over. He's a terrific passer. Always been that way," McCaffery said. "He's never hunted shots, even though he's a shooter."

The numbers bear that out. Oglesby has a 4.75-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio — 19 and 4 — during Iowa's 5-2 start. He's also earned McCaffery's praise on the defensive end.

"Obviously, if you're not shooting the ball well and you're a shooter, they're saying, 'Why is he playing? He's not making shots,' " Oglesby said Monday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. "I just try to do what it takes to stay on the floor and help the team win."

Teammate Mike Gesell is suffering a similar shooting slump through seven games -- he and Oglesby have played exactly 153 minutes and are shooting 26 percent.

"If your shot's not falling," Gesell said. "You just have to impact the game one way or another."

That's what Oglesby tries to do. At 6-foot-5, he is more versatile than meets the eye. He knows the play diagrams at four positions.

Wait, power forward? Really?

"I can play 1 through 4," Oglesby said. "If we want to throw a lob to Whitey (Aaron White) ... they're obviously not going to throw it to me, so I probably have to move to the 4.

"There's a lot of stuff that goes into it that other people don't see."

In Wednesday's ACC/Big Ten Challenge game between the Hawkeyes and Tar Heels, Oglesby will be the third-most prominent player from the Cedar Rapids area on the floor — behind North Carolina all-American Marcus Paige (Linn-Mar) and Iowa's second-leading scorer, Jarrod Uthoff (Jefferson). But if Oglesby (Washington) can get hot, he can become just as important.

Fans have heard for four years how well Oglesby can shoot. Gesell recently called Oglesby and Peter Jok two of the best pure shooters he's ever played with. McCaffery lauds Oglesby's accuracy in practice.

Oglesby has been through shooting struggles before. He converted just 26.9 percent of his 156 3-point attempts as a sophomore. He upped that to 40.3 percent during a junior year slowed by a foot injury.

Oglesby has converted five of 12 attempts from 3-point range (41.7 percent) in his past two games after going 5-for-23 (21.7 percent) in Iowa's first five. So there's an uptick.

"I've been trying to stay confident, stay positive. Been getting more shots up before practice," Oglesby said. "Just trying to keep up the same thing. Hopefully my shot will start falling."

"Obviously, we've got to be better offensively," McCaffery said. "Our execution hasn't been too bad. Our shooting hasn't been great. We shot it well enough in pretty much all the games, with the exception of the second half (of a 71-57 loss) against Texas."

HAWKEYE NOTEBOOK

SPEAKING OF SLUMPS: Gesell, Iowa's starting point guard, has missed his last 11 field-goal attempts. Like Oglseby, he's at 26 percent for the season.

"I know it's going to come around," said Gesell, who is leading Iowa with 27 assists. "I've been a great shooter my whole life."

SPEAKING OF SHOOTERS: Freshman Brady Ellingson sank his first two career 3-pointers in his second game at Iowa, Saturday's 77-44 win against Longwood. McCaffery said Ellingson's foot injury isn't 100 percent, but he plans to play the Sussex, Wis., native in Chapel Hill.

FINAL SHOTS: John Saunders and Dick Vitale will have the call on ESPN's telecast of Iowa-North Carolina. … Iowa leads the Big Ten in field-goal percentage defense (.348) and offensive rebounding (13.9). Gabe Olaseni leads the Big Ten in blocked shots per game (2.9). ... Iowa has two road wins against ranked opponents under McCaffery: 2011 at Wisconsin and 2014 at Ohio State.